A Cherry for the Chocolate City’s Sundae …

Business, Humor, Individual Responsibility, Liberal, Politics

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina swept ashore and swept away the lives and livelihoods of tens of thousands of America’s Gulf Coast residents. In the days that followed, massive sums of money poured in from governments, corporations and citizens to help alleviate the suffering caused by the storm. 18 months later, there are still funds heading to the Gulf Coast as it continues the rebuilding process.

Unfortunately, with billions at stake, some cannot resist padding or fabricating losses to get more than their share of relief funds. Given the darker parts of human nature, we should not be surprised.

Just how bad is it? By December of 2005, the Wall Street Journal reported the number of federal fraud cases exceeded 1,000 as criminals filed bogus claims against funds earmarked for disaster relief. By December of 2006, fraud by these individuals topped the $1 billion mark and CBS news reported that figure could swell to $2 billion in 2007 as corporate contracts were let where fraud would involve larger amounts.

Generally speaking, criminals make at least token efforts to conceal their activities. After all, penalties for fraud involve fines and jail time that would seriously cut into their efforts at spending their swag.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I read the story World Net Daily linked to from CNN.com reporting on what may be the single largest attempt at fraud ever, let alone the largest involving Katrina. And it appears to be being done, as my country friends would say, “Right out in the open in front of God and everybody!”

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, in an apparent effort to make up for losses stemming from his negligence, poor planning and failure to live up to the responsibility New Orleans voters placed in him, has decided the city should sue the US Army Corps of Engineers alleging that, “…poor design and negligence by the corps led to the failure of flood walls and levees.” New Orleans is asking for $77 BILLION in damages.

Not to worry! The feds only designated an original total of $63 billion for Katrina. In the last 18 months Mayor Nagin has surely documented the full extent of New Orleans’ losses and it’s far more than anyone suspected. That’s where the $77 billion figure came from. That’s what you’d think. But you’d be wrong.

According to CNN,

Only $1 billion of the $77 billion the city is seeking from the Army Corps of Engineers is for infrastructure damages it says it suffered because of levee breaches during Hurricane Katrina. The rest is for such things as the city’s tarnished image and tourist industry losses.

The city “looked at everything and just kind of piled it on,” Mayor Ray Nagin said.

“We got some advice from some attorneys to be aggressive with the number, and we’ll see what happens,” he said.

The city attorney’s office also considered such things as “decreases in the city’s image, tourist industry activity and potential business industry, losses in the tax base and generated revenue, and a decrease in the city’s overall population,” in making the assessment, according to a statement from City Hall.

A spokeswoman for the mayor could not explain how the city quantified losses not tied to infrastructure. A 43-page form filed with the corps, reserving the city’s right to sue for $77 billion, also provides little insight. It does not quantify “loss of tax revenue,” for example, and supporting documents for city-owned properties, such as a police crime lab and libraries, omit any estimates of property values or flood-related damages, The Times-Picayune newspaper reported Saturday.

We got some advice from some attorneys?? We just kind of piled it on??

I’ll say this for ‘Hizzoner’ - his future certainly looks bright. Anyone who can devise a credible evacuation plan with the help of federal dollars but fail to implement it due to local inefficiency; follow that up with accusing the federal government of moving slowly to respond to a crisis while refusing to answer for his local lack of effort to protect his city; then, get re-elected as Mayor despite his dereliction of duty; and, finish strong suing the federal government for more without even trying to cover up sloppy local ‘research’ supporting the suit - the sky is the limit for a man like that!

The 2008 election season is still young. If Mayor Nagin can pull this one off, perhaps he can be the Dems counter to Giuliani as “The Mayor we can depend on to come through for us in a time of crisis” and seek the Dems nomination for the Presidency.

Thinking Mayor Nagin should instead be nominated for the part of ‘Nuts’ on the federal Chocolate Sundae New Orleans is becoming …

BCM

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Blue Collar Muse @ March 5, 2007